On the morning of June 28th, an ARJ21-700 flight with the flight number of EU6679 from Chengdu Airlines took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport with 70 passengers on board, signifying that the first ARJ21 regional jet researched and developed by China was officially in flight operation based On Chengdu. This was an critical milestone in China’s civil airplane development history. For the first time, China’s own jet airliner roars in the sky.
First Flight of ARJ21 Regional Jet
ARJ21-700 regional jet took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport with 70 passengers at 9:25 of June 28th and arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 11:30. After a short stay, it returned from Shanghai to Chengdu with passengers. This meant that China’s civil airport had made a critical first step for marketing success.
ARJ21 Passenger Cabin
Before that, Chengdu Airlines prepares flight crew for flight, navigational matters, flight attendants for ARJ21-700 regional jet who have all passed the training of Flight Standard Board. By now, there are 8 plane captains finishing and achieving relevant flight certificates for ARJ21 regional jet, 52 flight attendants, 55 maintenance personnel, and 30 flight crew members finishing the training for ARJ21 and achieving operation certificates. Moreover, Chengdu Airlines has also formulated over 10 guaranteeing plannings for safety, organization, operation, aviation material support and installation equipment, qualification examination and approval, marketing flight preparation, brand promotion and so on to lay solid foundation for the operation of ARJ21 regional jet.
First ARJ21 Regional Jet Officially Operated
In December, 2015, Chengdu Airlines applied for ARJ21-700 regional jet supplement operation qualification officially to CAAC Southwest Regional Administration who appointed 19 inspectors to conduct concentration or partial examination on CCAR121 declaration of conformity, professional manuals or outlines for ARJ21-700 regional jet. Meanwhile, emergency evacuation demonstration was conducted as well. In 2016, operation verification flight was initiated including flight routes of Chengdu-Shenzhen, Chengdu-Xi’an, Chengdu-Nanjing, Chengdu-Changsha-Hongqiao, Chengdu-Hongqiao, and fully completed the operation verification flight period of 110 hours required by regulations and CAAC Southwest Regional Administration on June 18th. Chengdu Airlines has completed all the supplement operation qualification examination work for ARJ21-700 regional jet. 20 Clauses in Operation Standards for ARJ21-700 Regional Jet formulated by Chengdu Airlines have been approved by CAAC Southwest Regional Administration. By now, ARJ21 regional jet has officially achieved business operation certification at Chengdu Airlines.
It is learned that ARJ21 regional jet is the first new turbofan regional aircraft for medium and short range made in China in accordance with international civil aviation formulations with intellectual property rights. It includes basic type, cargo type, business type and so on with the seat number of 78 to 90 and flight range of 2,225 to 3,700 km. The jet will be mainly used to the radiation flight routes from central cities to surrounding medium and small cities and required to meet the targets to adapt to landing and taking off from plateau and high temperature airports in Western China and cross complicated flight routes. The project was approved in April, 2002. The first aircraft achieved successful maiden flight on November 28th, 2008. It was given Type Certificate by Civil Aviation Administration of China on December 30th, 2014.
Reporters learned from Chengdu Airlines that ARJ21 would be expected to conduct flight tasks for Chengdu-Changsha flight route, Chengdu-Guiyang flight route and Chengdu-Xi’an flight route and so on.
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